City lawyers say “economic divorces” are skyrocketing as the stock market slumps, Wall Street jobs are cut and bonuses are banished.

More after the jump…

(Economic Divorces, continued…)

Manhattan divorce lawyer Joshua Forman, whose firm handles several hundred divorces a year with many clients who work on Wall Street, said he’s seen a 20 percent surge in divorce filings in the past six months.

“They have to cancel the country-club membership, no more expensive summer camps, cancel the three-week trip to Europe. It’s hard to keep up with the Joneses when your job’s in jeopardy. And it takes a toll on the marriage,” Forman explained.

One of Forman’s clients – who made more than $1 million a year at one of the city’s largest financial firms and shared a fabulous, multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment with his wife and two children – was let go after the bank downsized in late January.

Fights started to escalate over finances. He began complaining about her spending habits and gave her an ultimatum: Stop wasting money or get back to the work force. She refused.

Things came to a head when they couldn’t afford to send their kids to their favorite, but exorbitantly priced, summer camp.

In June, they both approached attorneys and are taking steps toward divorce.

Similar stresses broke up Tom and Cindy. After five months of negotiations – with Cindy continuing to spend wildly and Tom’s severance package running dry – a divorce settlement seems far off.

Fights like these are common these days, according to Alton Abramowitz, vice president of the Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a partner in a Manhattan firm, who said he’s so overburdened with caseloads that he’s had to hire a new lawyer.

When one Manhattan client’s bonus, which made up the vast percentage of his income, is cut in half, questions started pouring in.

“Keep the country-club membership? Vacation in Europe? Lease the BMW?” Abramowitz recalled from conversations with his client.

It became too much – his client started internalizing what was happening at work and “stopped functioning well at home,” he explained.

Divorce was the next step.

Peter Bodnar says his White Plains firm for divorces has seen a 20 to 25 percent “increase in interest,” mainly from clients who work in “hedge funds and large brokerage houses.”

Couples counselor Dr. DeAnsin Parker is so “extraordinarily busy” that she’s had to wait-list prospective clients and, for the first time in her career, turn people away.

“It’s the fault line that finally cracks,” said Parker of the worsening economy. “It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Many of her clients are refugees of the Bear Stearns collapse – one of whom booked an appointment after he lost $50 million in 24 hours.

“He had to grieve – there was enormous grief,” Parker said. “He had problems figuring out how to explain it to his wife and children.”

But it’s not only the men who have to contend with the adjustment.

“These wives are accustomed to seeing [their husbands] as strong. But now they’re weak and vulnerable,” Parker said. “Women, typically, if they’ve lived one particular lifestyle, assume that their husband should just solve the problem.

“Many times women can’t cope with the fact that a man can be emotional and fragile,” she said.

Many times, these women will start comparing their husbands to other, more successful men, and adultery becomes an issue, Parker said.

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[quote comment=”99472″]I’m not joking when I say if a hypothetical spouse cheated on me and then tried to soak me in the divorce there’s a distinct liklihood I’d kill her. I’d try to do it in a manner that I would get away with it, but that would be a secondary concern.[/quote]

You know bin… I see a pre-nup in your future.

After all, approaching your future wife with a pre-nup will feel awkward, but a lot less awkward than your first night in prison with your new boyfriend. 🙂

[quote comment=”99489″][quote comment=”99376″]when you make that much money at a job, the job IS your identity, sadly enough.[/quote]

If you have the great fortune to be able to earn that much money per year, you really should be responsible enough to secure your future. You could still live very, very well on a fraction of that salary.

I know a couple guys who make insane amounts of money, but they’re smart about it. They aren’t even 40 yet and could easily retire and live on what they’ve saved.

Sucks that people are losing their jobs, but you’d think people who work in the financial sector would be a little bit more familiar with how to save and invest.

I guess the whole “for richer or for poorer” doens’t really apply. Thank God Tom didn’t get sick because “in sickness and in health” probably wouldn’t have mattered either. When things fall apart you get to see in true color.